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Rotating detonation engine.
FARNBOROUGH, England—Pratt & Whitney says it is in talks with “multiple weapons primes” to flight test its rotating detonation engine (RDE) technology following positive results from ground evaluations in 2025.
Because the heat-release process is more compact in an RDE and occurs over a shorter distance, the overall propulsion system can be smaller, making it suitable for advanced missiles and effectors.
Combustion in an RDE occurs as a detonation wave that travels around an annulus in a gap between coaxial cylinders. The detonation wave combusts the fuel-air mixture at supersonic speeds and at near-constant volume. This is a more efficient process than current jet engines, in which combustion occurs as a subsonic deflagration under constant pressure.
“We continue to make really good progress on our RDEs,” Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, said at the Farnborough Airshow here. Following early test results, Pratt said last year that it would make additional internal investments as it worked with the Department of Defense to accelerate a path to an aggressive series of integrated engine and vehicle ground tests.
“We’re in close conversations with multiple weapons primes in this space, including Raytheon, to be able to bring a product configuration to flight tests very soon,” Albertelli says.
Pratt conducted the initial ground tests under a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract announced in March 2022. The campaign was run jointly with parent company partners RTX Missiles & Defense as well as the RTX Technologies Research Center.
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